From: Gerald A. Levy (Gerald_A_Levy@msn.com)
Date: Sat Feb 28 2004 - 19:16:25 EST
A brief remembrance and appreciation: In the Fall of 1975, while still a Senior at New York University, I sat-in on a class entitled "Reading and Using Capital" taught at the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research by a visiting faculty member -- Paul M. Sweezy. Sweezy agreed to teach this course to fill in a temporary but devastating void in the New School Economics Department caused by the death of Stephen H. Hymer, 39, in an automobile accident in February, 1974. The course was unlike any other course I have ever taken. It was a phenomenon and a reflection of a time decades ago when the enthusiasm for studying Marx and Marxist political economy was very high. It was also an exclamation point concerning the high regard that students of political economy had for Sweezy. Let you tell you a little bit about it. To begin with, there was no classroom in the 5th Avenue Graduate Faculty building that was big enough so a huge classroom -- which, if I recall correctly, had been a cafeteria -- on 12th St. was booked. I don't recall how many students were in the class -- at least one hundred and fifty (150). Maybe two-hundred (200). I had to sneak my way into the classroom by flashing a computer card that I found discarded near the NYU computer lab which resembled the card required for admittance. I don't recall any other class at the New School where they asked that you show an admittance card before they let you into a classroom. There had never been a class so large before -- or, I believe, since -- offered by the New School Economics Department. This wasn't just a class, it was an _event_. I don't recall how many study groups there were -- perhaps a dozen. I met and later became friends with Paul's Teaching Assistant -- (OPE-L member) John Ernst. There was some irony here because John had previously studied with Paul Mattick, Sr.. There wasn't a lot of time for discussion and Sweezy relied heavily on the study group leaders to assist students in their study of _Capital_ (Volume I). It was such a huge class very few students were able to receive individualized instruction from Paul. What I recall most vividly about the class is that most students weren't simply taking notes, they were practically _dictating word-for-word Sweezy's lecture_. One has to remember that this was at the very height of the influence of the "_Monthly Review_ school". The overwhelming amount of students simply _adored_ him. I didn't find his lecturing style to be particularly impressive. Judging by the reactions of other students, they disagreed. He was very ... well ... _professorial_ in style. He certainly wasn't a public speaker like Luxemburg, Lenin, or Trotsky. But, in his own way, he was a living legend. He was among the very few Marxists in academe in the US who maintained their political and personal integrity during the dark years of McCarthyism. He, along with the late Leo Huberman, created a journal in 1949 that helped to keep the flame of Marxism alive in the US during this period of repression. And he showed on many occasions that he was willing to re-think his positions after events demonstrated that a re-thinking was necessary. He was _not_ a dogmatist. He was a scholar. He encouraged other Marxists to think for themselves and stand up for what they believed in. He will be sorely missed. In solidarity, Jerry
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sun Feb 29 2004 - 00:00:02 EST